Utah's Powder Mountain, a striking natural spot in the US known for its idyllic ski resort in Eden, is now getting a new community in the shape of the MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects designed Horizon neighbourhood. Commissioned by the entrepreneurs behind the Summit Series, an established platform for invitation-only events created to foster debate amongst businesspeople, academics, creatives, philanthropists and innovators, the scheme, which consists of some 30 privately owned bespoke cabins, has just completed.
Dotting an idyllic mountain slope and following the site's natural contours, the project features structures that range in size from 90-230 sq m and come in four typologies. A communal lodge called the ‘Pioneer Cabin’ is available to all residents and provides a heart and focus for the neighbourhood. The aim is for Horizon to feel modern and forward thinking, but remain rooted in a sense of wholesomeness and context.
While the designs vary and adapt to the topography's natural rhythm, there's a strong unity in the overall design, which shines through the use of wood (the fairly spare structures feature a cedar-shingled roof and vertical shiplap cedar walls), large openings and human-centric design that is part of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple's signature style. ‘This isn’t another ski resort, but rather a planned community for entrepreneurs and creatives working together to address global challenges', say the architects.
The positioning and orientation of the cabins were very carefully planned, so as to emphasise views and avoid obstructing vistas between neighbours. At the same time, these decisions also consciously work with the region's climate to enhance sustainability in the design through passive heating and cooling.
The project displays MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple's work on community making at its very best; an approach Brian MacKay-Lyons has been known to perfect through his work on his own Shobac Farm in Nova Scotia. Horizon is the renowned Canadian architecture practice's very first completed project in the USA; meanwhile more ‘neighbourhoods' are set to follow in the area, slowly completing the Powder Mountain founders' vision for this retreat.
INFORMATION
For more information visit the MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects website
-
The new CLA brings Mercedes's all-electric know-how to a new market sectorMixing high tech moves with tremendous tactile qualities, the buttery smooth new Mercedes-Benz CLA is an electric winner. Wallpaper* drives across Denmark in a triumphant new car with a three-pointed star
-
Collagerie and Zara Home debut perfectly imperfect furniture and accessoriesLucinda Chambers’ Collagerie collaborates with Zara Home on a collection that is an ode to the everyday
-
‘A beginning is a dialogue’: Simone Bellotti reveals a first glimpse of his vision for Jil Sander with an EP and music videoTitled ‘Wanderlust’, the music video and EP is a collaboration with Bochum Welt, signalling an esoteric start to Simone Bellotti’s tenure at the house before his runway debut later this year
-
Florencia Rodriguez on the importance of curiosity, criticism and cultural freedomFlorencia Rodriguez, architect, writer and artistic director of this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial, comments on the state of the States
-
A 432 Park Avenue apartment is an art-filled family home among the cloudsAt 432 Park Avenue, inside and outside compete for starring roles; welcome to a skyscraping, art-filled apartment in Midtown Manhattan
-
Discover this sleek-but-warm sanctuary in the heart of the Wyoming wildsThis glorious wood-and-stone residence never misses a chance to show off the stirring landscape it calls home
-
Inside a Montana house, putting the American West's landscape at its heartA holiday house in the Montana mountains, designed by Walker Warner Architects and Gachot Studios, scales new heights to create a fresh perspective on communing with the natural landscape
-
Peel back this Michigan lakeside house’s cool slate exterior to reveal a warm wooden homeIn Detroit, Michigan, this lakeside house, a Y-shaped home by Disbrow Iannuzzi Architects, creates a soft balance between darkness and light through its minimalist materiality
-
Inside the new theatre at Jacob’s Pillow and its ‘magic box’, part of a pioneering complex designed for danceJacob’s Pillow welcomes the reborn Doris Duke Theatre by Mecanoo, a new space that has just opened in the beloved Berkshires cultural hub for the summer season
-
A Rancho Mirage home is in tune with its location and its architect-owners’ passionsArchitect Steven Harris and his collaborator and husband, designer Lucien Rees Roberts, have built a home in Rancho Mirage, surrounded by some of America’s most iconic midcentury modern works; they invited us on a tour
-
Inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s Laurent House – a project built with accessibility at its heartThe dwelling, which you can visit in Illinois, is a classic example of Wright’s Usonian architecture, and was also built for a client with a disability long before accessibility was widely considered
